Guelph too classy in Flight Stakes

A dual G1 winner during her juvenile season, Exceed And Excel filly Guelph started a dominate favourite in the G1 Flight Stakes on October 5 in a quest to claim her third victory at the elite level.

With a field of only five runners attempting to stop her, Guelph absolutely dominated her peers, travelling three-wide throughout, but still had the audacity to power away and win the race by one-and-three-quarter lengths, eased down.

With no other three-year-old of the current season, filly or colt, having won three G1 races, Guelph will now head to Melbourne and try to add to that tally, taking on the G1 Thousand Guineas, a race which she is set to start a very short favourite.

With the performance of the filly described as “an exhibition gallop” by her trainer Peter Snowden, connections are obviously very upbeat about what lies ahead for their triple G1-winning filly.

"If she happened to win the Thousand Guineas, a quick freshen up then the autumn carnival is at her feet.

"The Coolmore, the Doncaster… all those races are there." stated Snowden.

Bred by Darley, Guelph is the second foal of the G1 winner Camarilla, a daughter of the G1 Queensland Derby winner Camarena, a sister to Watchful, the dam of four-time G1 winner and Darley stallion Sepoy.

Camarilla unfortunately died last Spring, but her two-year-old colt Ghibellines made his debut earlier in the day, finishing a good fourth in the Listed Breeders’ Plate behind Denman colt Law, while the final foal of the mare is a colt by Street Cry.

The reigning Champion Sire, Exceed And Excel is standing the current breeding season at Darley Kelvinside at a fee of $88,000 (inc. GST) and is the sire of 73 Stakes winners which includes six G1 winners highlighted by last season’s Golden Slipper winner Overreach and Darley’s triple G1-winning stallion Helmet whose first crop of foals are being born this season.